An 11-year-old girl's admission Thursday that a spat over
the Internet provoked her to kill a classmate and a TV program prompted her to
use a box-cutter as a weapon had Japanese questioning whether adults were being
vigilant enough.

Kyoji Mitarai, the father of 12-year-old
Satomi, who died from loss of blood after she was attacked by a classmate
with a knife at her primary school, wipes his face during a news
conference in Sasebo, west of Tokyo, June 1,
2004. [Reuters]

Defense lawyers said the
sixth grade suspect in juvenile detention told them that she led 12-year-old
Satomi Mitarai to an empty classroom during their lunch hour Tuesday, slit her
neck and arms with a box-cutter, and left her to bleed to death.

Lawyer Nozumu Kawazoe told reporters the 11-year-old came up with the idea
days earlier while watching a murder-mystery show.

All signs pointed to a close friendship between the girls, who were in art
class together, played basketball together, shared a group diary and passed
notes on a home page bulletin board.

But Mitarai angered the girl when she wrote negative Internet messages about
her appearance, the Kyodo News Agency reported. The girl told police she decided
to kill Mitarai when a final message commented on her weight. That message came
four days before the killing, the report said, citing defense lawyers and
investigative sources.

The sudden turn in the girl's behavior ¡ª who has been described as a cheerful
child who caused little previous trouble ¡ª sparked concerns that the problem may
be broader.

"Over a computer ... you can't see the person's face, so it's easier to use
increasingly violent language. If that's the case, it's an incident that
reflects a pathology of society in the age of the Internet," the Tokyo Shimbun,
a major metropolitan newspaper, said in an editorial Thursday.

Other national papers ran stories on the surging use of the Internet by
children.

In Japan, 62 percent of children between the ages of six and 12 have access
to the Internet, according to the Telecommunications Ministry.

The Education Ministry has also pushed in recent years to get more computers
and Internet-usage into classrooms, while some schools have begun teaching
children "Netiquette," such as respecting other users and encouraging polite
conduct during Web interactions.

The gruesome slaying raised doubts about that emphasis on technology.

"What children need most is to be able to piece together real things and real
experiences," wrote Hisashi Sonoda, an Internet crime expert at Konan
University, in an analysis published by the Sankei Shimbun, a conservative
daily.

Distressed officials at Okubo Elementary School, in Sasebo, 650 miles
southwest of Tokyo, said they examining how the killing could have happened and
reviewing student supervision guidelines.

This week's incident has reinforced a rising trend in juvenile crimes and
violence at schools in recent years that has eroded Japan's image as a safe
haven.

Three years ago, lawmakers lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 14
from 16 amid public outrage over the beheading of a 10-year-old boy by a
14-year-old in 1997.

Police statistics also show that while violent crimes, like murder and
robbery, among children under age 14 is still low, it is on the rise.

The suspect's case is being handled by a family court judge who will decide
whether to put her on trial. The girl ¡ª whose name hasn't been released,
according to Japanese juvenile criminal law ¡ª will not be given psychological
testing, lawyers said.

Kawazoe said the girl was visibly troubled when asked about why she killed
her friend.

"She said she didn't know why she did it. ... She said she wouldn't have done
it if she had given it more thought," Kawazoe said.

"The girl may have given some signals, but the greater tragedy is that adults
may have overlooked them," said the Tokyo Shimbun editorial. "Ultimately, it's
our responsibility as adults to protect children from incidents and crimes."